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Are Cemeteries Obsolete?

Your digital data is everywhere, and it’s never going away. That might make you feel like a celebrity, knowing that the favorite moments from your personal history are just an Internet search away.

For other people, this always-on, always-there data can be a nightmare. When a loved one has passed away, online data can hit like a Mack truck with every birthday notification, prescheduled #tbt post or pregenerated video montage of your “best” online moments.

The shape of memorials to come

If you ask some experts, the answer is eventually. “For some, online memorials can totally replace a cemetery,” says Dr. Carla Sofka, a professor of social work at Siena College in Loudonville, New York, who specializes in how grief and digital worlds collide. “But I don’t think [cemeteries] are going to be a thing of the past until we run out of space to use them.”

Online memorials entered the digital realm in the mid-1990s but didn’t gain a strong foothold until the mid-2000s, when dozens of sites starting cropping up, digital grief experts say. Google trend data shows people started searching for “online memorial” in 2006, and while there are hundreds of sites in existence, experts say it’s impossible to track them all. Today, sites like iMorial, Forever Missed and World Wide Cemetery offer grieving families customizable, community-based options ranging from free to premium solutions. For many millennials, the memorial of choice is simply a Facebook page.

But the rise of online memorials isn’t the only thing causing consumers to forgo tradition. Burial itself seems to be going out of fashion. It’s estimated that more than 44 percent of all deaths in North America will result in cremation this year, reports the Cremation Association of North America, a 29 percent increase during the last year six years alone. When that many people aren’t burying loved ones and visiting gravesites, they need a way to remember them, virtual or otherwise.

A digital double-edged sword

Dr. Heidi Horsley, assistant professor at Columbia University School of Social Work and executive director of the Open to Hope Foundation, an international organization for the bereaved, says that online memorials can be both a blessing and a curse. “The beautiful thing is you can go on Facebook or elsewhere and pay tribute to those you’ve lost,” she says. “When traffic starts to drop [on the deceased’s page], it’s distressing because all of a sudden people aren’t responding ... and it reconfirms for us the permanency that this person is never coming back. It’s hard to wrap around the fact that it’s forever.”

Grief in the face of this tragic reminder isn’t the only downside to online memorials and e-cemeteries. Sofka adds that mobile devices make it easier for some online users to express their grief on social media sites like Facebook within seconds of learning the news, without taking time to consider the possible consequences.

“Now you can be in a grocery store and find out something terrible has happened to a loved one,” says Sofka, whose book Dying, Death, and Grief in an Online Universe covers the intersection between grief and the Internet.

Nonetheless, some Facebook users find comfort in the speed with which the social media giant can circulate news. On March 1, 2015, Houston-based photographer David Bean shared the tragic news of his mother’s passing with her friends by posting it on his personal Facebook page. “She had so many friends in Hawaii, California and Texas, many of whom I had no idea how to contact,” he writes in an email. “Each time one person sees the news, they may in turn put [it] on Facebook and reach others, so it becomes a snowball effect.”

So far, no one’s said anything negative to Bean about learning of his mother’s death via Facebook. “Everyone seemed to understand why I put [it] on Facebook. I can't imagine how hard it would have been without social media,” he adds.

Despite the potential drawbacks, both Sofka and Horsley agree that online memorials have a lot to offer and may offer more benefits than a traditional gravesite. “Sometimes when we’re grieving, it’s two or three in the morning when nobody’s around,” says Horsley. “But the Internet is a virtual community 24-7 and you can read other people’s comments. It’s a way to remember a person and know you’re not alone in your grief.”

Since the cemetery can now come to you, some online memorial sites like You Mattered and Never Gone allow users to light virtual candles or leave virtual flowers at a digital gravesite. Elizabeth Fournier, owner of Cornerstone Funeral Services in Boring, Ore., has noticed the digital trend extending into other aspects of her business. “You wouldn’t believe how many requests I get for Skype visitations,” Fournier says. “The culture of death has really changed. I never knew in the beginning of my career that it would come to that.”

Thwarting identity thieves

Whether memorials are traditional or unconventional, research shows that it’s nice to have several resources for working through grief. However, multiple traffic sources create more opportunities for things to fall through the cracks, notes Julie Myhre, a digital security expert for consumer site Next Advisor.

“The most important thing people need to do before they die with their social media accounts is to make sure they are private,” Myhre urges. “It may seem like no big deal, but if you’re an identity thief, it’s just another piece of the identity puzzle that they’ll use to hack into your stuff. So anything you post should be set to strict privacy settings.”

Thieves steal the identities of the deceased by trolling the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File of all American deaths, tied to their social security information, and cross-check the information with local obituary notices or public online memorials that mention personally-identifiable information, reports ID Analytics. All it takes it a little reading, plus $995 for an annual online subscription to the Death Master File. (But according to the SSA, the data can be used to prevent fraud.)

From there, the theft continues as it would for a living victim. Thieves acquire details such as dates of birth and social security numbers so they can open new credit cards, run up debt on existing accounts or use personal information to sign up for pricey subscription-based services.

How you set up your loved one’s memorial is crucial to prevent fraudulent activity. Don’t go into specifics about the deceased’s life. Myhre advises avoiding any direct mention of their job, home address or funeral details. Even mentioning hobbies or pets’ names can help thieves decode passwords and security questions. “Don’t include too much information,” Myhre says. “You can share those personal details at the funeral.”

Even Facebook’s digital heir feature, the Legacy account, can open the door to digital burglars. While Legacy accounts make the deceased’s account private, what appear to be casual acquaintances could be digital thieves phishing for information in disguise. To be safe, keep your friends list clean so your family will be less vulnerable to scams after you pass, experts note.

Discussion

Obsolete

From Jack Lovett on March 23, 2015 :: 11:38 am

Really do not care about electronic memorials, just as I do not care for cemeteries.
I prefer a green burial, unfortunately my state (Arkansas) does not allow them, no money to be made by the mortuaries for green burials.

No more cemeteries...

From Barry F Stinson on March 23, 2015 :: 1:46 pm

We don’t need to use more valuable real estate to house dead bodies. Cremation should be mandatory. Ashes may be kept in an urn or scattered according to the wishes of the deceased. Visiting a grave is merely symbolic - That’s a dead, decaying corpse in the ground, that neither realizes nor appreciates ones visits. The Neptune Society has the right idea, and spares the exorbitant casket and other funeral expenses.

Long way off until no cemeteries

It would appear you may not have acquainted yourself with the huge increase in interest people have taken with their family history these past twenty years or so.

Thousands of people are traveling all over the world to visit the places their families used to live, and yes, pay respect to their ancestors who are buried in the nearby cemeteries.

We are using technology to make it easier for people to locate and visit their loved ones.

In the world of Jewish genealogy there is a global effort by the 75+ Jewish Genealogical Societies and individuals to document and record the information on tombstones, then place all this information online.

Currently some or all of 4,900 cemeteries in over 100 countries and 2.2 MILLION names have been indexed.

My own society in the San Francisco Bay Area has contributed some 40,000 names.

A number of tombstones don’t just state the person’s name and dates of birth and burial. Many older ones also state the town and country they came from. Furthermore Jewish tombstones are supposed t include a line in Hebrew which lists the deceased’s name and their father’s name.

We are also repairing and maintaining cemeteries. This includes the perimeter walls as well as the tombstones themselves. (I am a trustee of a commission that owns and maintains seven Gold-Rush era Jewish cemeteries in California.)

The whole point of embracing technology is to use is as an aid, not as a substitute such that people don’t go visit and pay their respects.

We already do much of what you suggest with ebooks, self-publishing and yes, websites to memorialize families and their history.

Tombstones will never be a thing of the past - not if the millions of people engaged in researching their family history have anything to say about it.

Memorials

My husband has been creating custom wood urns for people and pets for the past 6 years ( has been an artist for over 45 years) and we have noticed that there has been a considerable change in the industry towards cremation from burials and here on the west coast- the green burials are becoming attractive. It is such a personal issue but my suggestion to everyone is to make a plan and/or discuss what you want to happen when you pass away. Whatever you decide, make sure the people close to you know what you want. It makes it so much easier for the family. If you want to see some unique urns, please visit my husband’s site: http://custom-wood-urns.com

Burial and Grief

From Cindy Spears on March 24, 2015 :: 7:18 am

I have been a widow for over six years now. I can tell you that I think going “on-line” to a website to allow yourself to go through the grieving process is stupid. You need personal interactions with family and friends to get you through grieving.
As far as doing away with cemeteries is another unrealistic view. I find comfort in going to where my husband and where my parents are buried. Social networking shows no respect for the human being that gave so much of his or her life to this earth.
There are too many hackers that get into websites and cause so many problems. You read about this every week.
Be respectful in losing a loved one!

I don't feel cemeteries are

From maria rose randazzo on March 26, 2015 :: 8:34 pm

I don’t feel cemeteries are going to disappear because most folks want a place to go to visit their loved ones.The problem I see is space is becoming limited which why I am opting for a"green” version of burial by cremation into an urn that can be reused as a planter.